OLogy

How do you figure out what a Botai village might have looked like?

Scientists created a computer-generated image of the Krasnyi Yar village.

Based on our excavations, we have determined that the houses were square and made of adobe. They were pit houses, meaning that half of the house was underground. And through microscopic soil analysis, we concluded that the sapling roofs were insulated with horse manure. That may sound unusual, but manure is used all over the Eurasian Steppes to insulate buildings and keep them warm. People still use manure to insulate stables today.

We also do computer models to reconstruct what the houses looked like. These models helped us understand the lifestyle of the Botai people.

By doing a computer reconstruction of the village, we also can better understand the society and their relationships with the horses. We see they had central plazas, how close together the houses were, and where the corrals were located.